The Woes of the Weasleys
by hpfan224
Summary: Have you ever wondered what your life would be like if you had seven children? And there was the biggest wizarding war on record happening? Follow the lives of the Weasleys starting with when Fred and George go to Hogwarts through Molly Weasley's eyes.
1. Oh the Woes of the Weasleys

_Sometimes I wonder if having seven children was really the best idea,_ thought Molly Weasley as she eased herself into her usual rocking chair at the end of the day and picked up her knitting needles.

Today had been a particularly difficult day on Molly Weasley. Fred and George, Molly's twins, were up to their usual mischievous antics that day. They had succeeded in putting their seven-year-old sister on the verge of tears, which was surprisingly hard to do.

They had managed to convince her that she was actually adopted from a poor family out of pity, and that she indeed had no family. Ron meanwhile had spent the day pestering Molly about buying him a broomstick, while Percy was whining about having to get used schoolbooks. Thankfully Bill was at his new job in Gringotts, and Charlie was off at an internship in Romania studying dragons.

Molly shivered with fear at the thought of her poor little boy all alone off with dragons. She had never really come to terms with the fact that her children have to grow up and leave her. Molly heaved a great sigh, as she gazed into the depths of the fire. _Yet,_ she thought,_ I wouldn't have it any other way._

At that moment, Molly heard the door open and close, as her husband, Arthur, walked in. he looked slightly disgruntled as he put his briefcase on the floor and made his way over to the couch near Molly. "Long day?" he asked.

"You have no idea," came the answer.

"Now," said Molly, "Time for dinner". Arthur smiled, and knowing it would be useless to argue sat at the table.

"So, how was work?" Molly asked while stirring some soup. "Alright. I had to confiscate some attacking silverware, but other than that it was all right. Now, what did Fred and George do this time?"

"Oh, nothing really," said Molly unconvincingly. She gave up all her pretenses as Arthur raised his eyebrows, and answered, "Really dear, nothing I couldn't handle. Just teasing Ginny again about being adopted. You would have thought that she would have learned by now," Molly said shaking her head sadly.

Arthur let out a short laugh, his mouth full of steaming hot creamy mushroom soup. "Any other interesting things happen today?" asked Arthur.

"Oh, not particularly," answered Molly. "The Hogwarts letters came. Can you believe that Fred and George are going this year?"

"No, it's unconceivable! To have a worry-free year!" Molly gave her husband a weird look.

"Honey, as long as we have children, we will never have a worry-free year. Plus, we'll probably spend most of our time at Hogwarts anyway, trying to explain ourselves to Professor McGonagall as to why our sons have wrecked havoc upon the castle. Arthur gave Molly a small, knowing smile and turned back to his soup. _My how the time flies,_ he thought with a touch of nostalgia.

~~0~~

Two weeks later the Weasley family was found franticly scrambling to make the train in the morning as usual.

"Fred, George, Ron, breakfast now!" Molly called for the sixth time that morning, as she double-checked that all the trunks were downstairs.

"But Mum," came Ron's voice, "Why do I have to get up? I can't go to Hogwarts for another year!" Molly rolled her eyes. This question was asked of her every year.

"Ronald Billius Weasley!" Ron flinched at the sound of his full name, "You get down here this instant or else! You know perfectly well that we come to see each other off. Now up with you or you don't get any breakfast!"

Molly heard her words' effect as several crashes were heard from Ron's room as he tripped over himself to get to breakfast in time. Molly rolled her eyes as she waved her wand for nine plates to appear laden with scrambled eggs, toast, and bacon.

The departure was the usual mess of owl hooting, trunk dropping, and finally side-along apparition to the muggle train station.

"It's the same every year," Molly narrated as they strode purposefully towards platform ten. "Packed with muggles of course. Move along now!" Molly expertly navigated the masses of witches, wizards, and muggles as she neared the wall of Platform 10.

"Come on, Percy, you first! Fred and George, you next!" Molly continued, directing Percy, Ron, and Ginny through the barrier. After confirming that everyone was there and well, Molly gathered all her children around her protectively, like a mother hen.

"Now boys, you'd best be off, the train will leave any moment. Have fun Percy!" she called as Percy make his way to the train. "Now you two," said Molly, focusing her entire attention to her two most unruly children.

"I don't want to hear a word about you getting any trouble, or you both get a howler. Do you understand?" The boys quailed slightly under her gaze, but nodded, a mischievous sparkle in their eyes.

"I love you, and have fun! Be safe!" Molly admonished to their retreating backs. Molly allowed herself a small nostalgic sigh, as she waved off three of her beloved children.

Ginny it seems was trying very hard not to break into tears, and Ron looked longingly at the departing train. "Come along now children!" Molly said to her remaining two kids as they made their way outside to their usual apparition spot. Wiping a few tears from her eyes, Molly held on tight to her children as the world compressed, and spat them out in front of their door.

Two hours later, Molly hated to admit it, but she missed her children terribly. She had already washed all the morning dishes, swept the floors, re-organized her cabinets, and now was at a loss as to what to do.

At this point in her previous life she would have to go off to stop Fred and George from doing some crazy pranks, or terrorizing Ginny, but the house just seemed so _empty_ without her troublemakers.

For lack of anything better to do Molly decided to check on Ron and Ginny. She made her way slowly up the stairs to Ron's room, only to find him listing through a Quidditch catalog.

Sighing, she silently closed the door as to not disturb him, and waked down a flight of stairs to Ginny's room. Ginny was doing nothing more interesting than reading some clothing magazine. Still bored, Molly made her way downstairs and sat down in her favorite chair.

_What do people do in their spare time?_ Thought Molly. _How am I supposed to know! I never had spare time! How in the world do people with only two children, or even worse, no children spend their time? Aha! I know what to do. I'll just read._

Molly, now satisfied that she found something to occupy her time with, picked up a household magazine, and settled back down in her rocking chair. She only made it past the first few pages. The house was simply to quite. Unnaturally still. Thinking of nothing better to do, Molly sat down to write to her children, now silently crying.


	2. The Holidays

When Arthur got home that night, Molly was all business. She had seen Arthur about to come home thanks to her clock, so she was already cutting bread and stirring piping hot tomato soup. Arthur could tell from the moment he came home that something was off. _Of course,_ he thought, _the boys left today for Hogwarts. Oh, poor Molly._ Arthur snuck up behind Molly, and grabbed her in a big hug.

His hunch was correct, as he say Molly's eyes rimmed red with tears. "We have some extra food today," said Molly, "I, forgot that we're only four people, so-," but Arthur cut her off with a kiss.

"It's okay honey, I understand." Molly wiped the tears off her cheeks and gave a dry sob when she saw that her soup had overcooked. Arthur simply waved his wand, returned the soup to its original state, and sat a sobbing Molly near the table. He served himself some soup with bread, and sat himself across from Molly.

"Now," said Arthur, "do you want to talk about it?" Molly sadly shook her head, but stopped herself.

"It's just," Molly said battling tears, "There are only two left! What will we do when Ginny goes to Hogwarts? This is my whole life! Taking care of my children. What in the world will I spend my time on?"

"Hush, hush," Arthur said as Molly broke into tears again.

"I'm just being silly, I suppose. Getting all upset over nothing."

"No honey, it's not nothing. I understand how you feel! We'll cross that bridge when we get there though. For now, we still have two beautiful children at home, and I'm sure we could think of something to do for you." Molly simply nodded, and with an aimless wave of her wand, which was supposed to summon the drumsticks, but instead made Arthur's water turn pink. With an amused look, Arthur fixed his water and went to retrieve his dinner from the kitchen.

~~0~~

Two months later, not much had changed, save for the fact that Molly had received several letters from Hogwarts regarding Fred and George's behavior. Molly had taken up gardening without her wand to use up her time, and started supervising Ron as he practiced his flying. Molly had seen Ginny jealously watching Ron from her window, and resolved to keep a closer look on the broom shed.

The first snow of the season was coming down, as Molly knitted absentmindedly by the fireplace, waiting for Arthur to come home. She kept one eye on the clock as the minutes ticked by as to when Arthur should have come home. Finally the clock's hands went to _traveling_ and then _home. _Molly jumped up a split second before Arthur walked in the door. They locked lips in a passionate kiss, as Arthur threw off his jacket. They made their way to the couch near the burning fireplace, and Arthur interrupted their kiss, and asked panting, "What was that for? Not to say I'm not happy about it, but…"

Molly shut him up with another kiss, and said "The first snow of the season dear," and walked away to the kitchen.

_That woman will never cease to amaze me,_ thought Arthur as he admired his wife as she ladled piping hot mushroom soup out of the pot.

The next day was the day that Percy, Fred, and George were scheduled to arrive for the Christmas Holidays. Molly had outdone herself once again with decorations and food. The burrow was covered from top to bottom with paper snowflakes (which Molly made with a very reluctant Ginny), colorful paper chains (which Ron got tangled in), and Christmas lights that Molly put up with a wave of her wand. The dining table was creaking under the strain of all the food, as three rosy-cheeked boys came inside.

"Oh, there you are! We were expecting you ages ago!" Molly clucked as she gathered her boys around her in a great hug. Percy managed to wiggle out, and straightened his glasses, which the twins had knocked askew under the pretenses of hugging.

"Well mother," Percy began in his usual pompous tone, "We would have been here sooner, but those two were nowhere to be found, so I had to search the castle for them until thankfully Nearly Headless Nick directed me towards the -," but just then Fred interrupted with a panicked look from George.

"Yes, yes, indeed. Now erm is that dinner I see? Looks great! Let's start!" Molly gave him a look like she knew all his evasive maneuvers, but let them go with a stern look. Ron spared the twins from any more disciplining with his arrival, and he began to interrogate the twins on exactly what Hogwarts is like. The twins began cooking up extreme exaggerations of Hogwarts traditions, as Molly put the finishing touches on dinner.

It had only been two days since the twins' arrival, but they already had managed to ruin half the decorations and aggravate Ron by turning his teddy bear into a spider. Christmas was one day away, when everyone gathered around the table. Bill had come back two days prior from his Gringotts job, and Charlie had flown in the night before from Romania. He had a few new burns and scars, but otherwise seemed good.

Everyone was shoveling food as fast as their forks allowed them, as the table groaned under the weight of the chicken, stuffing, vegetables, freshly baked bread rolls, Yorkshire pudding, potatoes, pumpkin pie, apple pie, and ice cream. Arthur loosened his belt buckle and took a deep breath. Every year when Arthur thought that he couldn't possibly be fuller, but seemed to get a second wind about half way through.

Molly was back to watching the twins like a hawk as they tried to antagonized Ginny, and fed Ron completely untruthful stories about Hogwarts. After everyone had eaten as much as they possibly could without puking, and then a bit more, the family made their way to the living room, where a huge Christmas tree stood with mounds of presents underneath them, most obviously home-made or at least home-wrapped.

Ginny started by opening her present from Molly and Arthur. She had received a new dress robe for family occasions. She looked ecstatic as she ran up to her room to try it on immediately. Next, Ron opened his gift from his parents. He had received a yearlong subscription to Quidditch weekly.

Molly received a spatula from Bill, and a Romanian necklace with a small dragon on it from Charlie. After the last gift was opened (Ginny got a box of sweets from Honeydukes from the twins, which was suspiciously nice for them. Not in the least as the twins weren't supposed to have access to Hogsmade yet, but Molly would deal with that later.), the family dispersed to their respective rooms to store their new treasures.

Molly stayed content, watching the fire. _This is how life should be,_ she thought. _Cheerfully taking care of your peaceful children. _Just then a crash was heard as Ginny came sobbing down the stairs. Apparently the sweets were from Zonkos, not Honeydukes, and made her face turn bright purple. _Well, mostly peaceful at least, _Molly thought to herself as she went to console her daughter.


	3. Broomstick Trouble

The holidays passed without further incident (not counting the fact that the twins set off dung bombs under Charlie's chair, and put beetles in Bill's soup). The boys were getting ready to go back to Hogwarts and their jobs respectively, and Molly was mentally preparing herself to return to a mostly solitary existence.

She was deeply consumed in her thoughts as her youngest son, Ron, sat down at the kitchen table, looking uncomfortable. "What's wrong Ronnikins?" asked Molly with apparent worry. Ron turned a little pinker around the ears at being called by his childhood nickname, and squirmed a bit in his chair.

"Mum, is it true that I'll be put in Slytherin?" Ron finally managed to say.

Molly knew instantaneously where this was coming from.

"Oh my. My Ronnie, wherever you'll be put we will still always love you! Oh, don't listen to Fred. Oh Ronnie."

Ron squirmed again at the show of so much affection, and nodded. He then just muttered something under his breath, and hurried back to his room.

Molly sighed, and shook her head while checking up on the rice and chicken she was cooking. It was the last day before the boys went back to Hogwarts and their jobs, and Molly was making the most of it. Having her house full with her children just seemed so right, and before she knew it they were scrambling in the morning to get the children back to Hogwarts.

"Now, Percy, don't forget your books, I think Ginny borrowed them," Molly yelled upstairs while serving breakfast.

Percy, looking scandalized, hurried to his little sister's room, and soon shouts were heard about the location of Percy's potion book.

Ron was yawning, and kept missing his mouth with his fork of eggs. Fred was dozing off into his toast, and George was snoozing on Fred's shoulder, and would once in a while start and look around wildly before dozing off again. Molly sighed, and made her wand imitate a car horn, making all three of the boys jump and start shoveling food into their mouths. Percy finally arrived looking slightly disheveled, claiming that Ginny scribbled in his potions book.

The time seemed to fly as they all scrambled onto the Hogwarts Express, promising to be good and study for finals. After what felt like a second, Molly, Ron, and Ginny were back home. Ron half-heartedly offered to play exploding snap with Ginny, but it just wasn't the same without the rest of the family.

Bill and Charlie apparated to work, and the house that was full to the breaking point last night, became empty again. Molly cleaned up the kitchen to the sound of occasional bangs when the cards would explode, and finally not being able to stand the emptiness anymore went outside to garden.

Molly vented all her anger and misery on the poor weeds, and there was soon a huge pile of innocent weeds stacked up next to a sweaty and dirty Molly. Finally, Molly headed back into the house, where she took a quick shower and got dressed. Upon exiting her room, Molly heard a commotion, which was very unusual for when Fred and George were gone. She hurried to investigate, and found a mutinous Ginny glaring at a screaming Ronald.

"WHAT THE BLOODY HELL GIN, YOU CAN'T JUST-" at this point Molly thought it would be prudent to intervene, so she cleared her throat and gave the pair of them her best glares.

"Now," she said to her children who were frozen in place looking guilty, "What exactly is going on here?"

Ron cleared his throat and shifted uncomfortably, but Ginny just matched her mother's glare, looking defiant.

"Well," she started, "Ronald here thought he would just," but just then Ron quickly interrupted.

"Actually, what happened is Ginny here just took my broom stick, and when I attempted to get it back," but here Ginny intervened again,

"Mum, he tried to knock me off my - I mean his - broom!"

"Is this true, Ronald," asked Molly using her best McGonagall look.

"Erm," said Ronald all the while shifting under Molly's glare,

"I didn't try to knock her off _per say,_ I simply tried to get my broom back and…" but Ron gave up all pretenses under Molly's look.

"Oh bollocks," he muttered under his breath.

"Well, Ronald, you can just go out and de-gnome the garden, and Ginny, since you have such a love for broomsticks, why don't you clean the shed and all the Quidditch gear. In addition neither of you will get desert for the next week."

Ron looked crestfallen at this last piece of news, however he knew better than to argue, and the two Weasley children trooped to do their respective punishments. Molly started trooping down the stairs, shaking her head the whole while.


End file.
